i am looking at stuff for my next trip. two things i am stuck on are overnight buses that arrive at awkward times. one is a bus that arrives in nis at 4:00 am. what are you supposed to do at that hour? it doesnt even appear that the bus station is open for you to drop your luggage off at. the other schedule is me arrving in istanbul at 5:00 - 6:00 am. this one isnt so bad as i can make my way to my hotel, drop off my luggage (i checked, theres a 24 hour front desk) and by then, it should be around 7:00 am. i can go eat and start seeing stuff or whatever. but im really stuck on the nis thing. have you ever arrived at an awkward morning hour and what did you do with the time?
Posted by
San Antonio TX, United States
2393 posts
I have a personal rule about arriving at 0 dark-thirty! Never do it. I would break the trip up into two legs and spend the night somewhere in between and catch an early bus or train on to my final destination. One time from Paris to Florence - the train arrived in Florence about 6 am - we just booked all the way into Rome which arrived about 8:30 or 9 then turned around and got on the first train back to Florence! We were nice & rested upon arrival in Florence and were able to drop our bags at our hotel and start sight-seeing.
Posted by
OP
brooklyn, ny, usa
118 posts
i thought this was the best solution but i am having an impossible time finding schedules for stops in between. back to square one.
Posted by
Stuttgart, Germany
3050 posts
What site are you using for bus schedules? I find http://www.balkanviator.com/en/ to be the best in that region... But yeah, bus connections in parts of the Balkans can be a real PITA. No advice for you but avoid it if possible.
Posted by
Bellevue, WA, USA
811 posts
not sure where the first trip's destination is, but the 2nd one is actually very common. i suppose it's a night bus (this way bus can avoid traffic on the road and moves faster), so it arrives in Istanbul early in the morning. I know on a lot of rides the conductor will ask you where you want to get dropped off, and they'll try to get you close to your hotel, so you don't go to a bus station and then spend money and time to get back. If you hotel is centrally located, then it's pretty safe to walk in the early mornings. there may be coffee house opened you can refresh, or head to the hotel see if you can check in. In general early morning is always better than late evening, so i wouldn't worry so much.
Posted by
OP
brooklyn, ny, usa
118 posts
ive been using 23984723897432 bus websites. anything that comes up on google, ive been clicking. i have so many post its on my desk and none of them make any sense anymore. dont even try to get me to figure out my excel spreadsheet anymore. i have had WAY too much caffiene today because my job is out of decaf and im sweating. my original plan was: rome - bari - dubrovnik - mostar - sarajevo - nis i think. i am not sure. but i think. i can combine both my problems of: - i can not find a way to get to nis other than at 4:00 am
- i can not find any ferry that goes to dubrovnik on a wednesday and do this: fly from rome to sarajevo - this gives me two extra days as (a) i dont have to take a train from rome to bari (b) i dont have to go a day later because i cant find a ferry on wednesday. then do sarajevo - mostar - dubrovnik - kotor - bar - scenic train to belgrade - nis i think.
Posted by
OP
brooklyn, ny, usa
118 posts
david - thank you for the istanbul information!
Posted by
Everywhere
42 posts
your last revision makes the most sense, unless you went from SRVJ to Beograd, then to Nis, etc.